The Most Frivolous Lawsuits of All Time

The term “frivolous lawsuit” is used far too often by tort reform advocates, who believe that there is a trend towards excesses litigation in this country.

The term “frivolous lawsuit” is used far too often by tort reform advocates, who believe that there is a trend towards excesses litigation in this country. That isn’t true at all, and many so-called “frivolous” lawsuits, even the infamous McDonald’s hot coffee case, are genuine cases. However, sometimes, there are lawsuits that push legal boundaries a tad too far.

Everyone is familiar with the exaggerated advertising tactics that are employed by alcohol companies. Budweiser, for instance, for years ran a successful ad campaign that linked drinking the beer, to attracting women like bees to nectar. At least one man took that advertising far too seriously. Richard Overton filed a lawsuit against Budweiser, claiming that he drank the beers for the years and years, and never managed to attract the kind of women that the company portrayed in its commercials. Fortunately, better sense prevailed, and the case was dismissed.

A woman who visited the Halloween Horror Haunted Nights haunted house attraction at Universal Studios filed a $15,000 lawsuit against Universal Studios, claiming that she suffered immense turmoil, and mental anguish after a visit to the haunted house.

A man who walked into a unisex bathroom at a concert venue found several women using urinals. That probably wasn’t a pretty picture, but it definitely didn’t warrant the kind of action that the man took. He filed a lawsuit against the concert venue, claiming $ 4.5 million in emotional distress. He lost.

Sometimes, plaintiffs go over the limit. One such man who was speeding at above the posted speed limits, crashed into a bicycle, killing a young child. He got away scot-free with that bad behavior, because his attorneys managed to show that the boy was riding at night, without bicycle lights, and therefore contributed to the accident. However, the man then turned around and filed a lawsuit against the young boy’s family for damages to the Audi he was driving at the time.

Sometimes people can take their claims for emotional pain and suffering damages too far. One elderly woman, who opened the door and 10:30 PM and found teenage girls selling cookies, claimed that she suffered extreme trauma upon seeing girls at her door. She actually filed a lawsuit claiming emotional damage, and received $930 for an emergency room visit for treatment of her anxiety attack.

A man who resembles basketball superstar Michael Jordan actually filed a lawsuit against the basketball star, and also named Nike in the lawsuit for promoting Jordan to the extent that he became so famous. According to the man, he had suffered years of anguish and suffering due to be being mistaken often for Michael Jordan.

Yet another bizarre lawsuit was filed by Robert Block, and named himself. According to him, Block who was serving time in prison at the time, committed the crime while he was drunk, which was a violation of his religious beliefs. He had therefore violated his own civil rights, and therefore sued himself for $ 5 million. Fortunately, the case was dismissed.

In a classic case of taking damages a little too far, a man claimed that a dry-cleaning shop had misplaced his pants. He sued for $ 64 million, but lost the case.

In 2002, a man who convicted for raping a patient at the hospital sued the hospital for negligence, claiming that the hospital had failed to prevent him from carrying out the rape.

Yet another lawsuit was triggered by a bowl of mashed blended rat. However, in this case, it was not the man who ate the horrible dish who filed the lawsuit. Rather, it was another man who watched contestants on the Fear Factor reality show, eating the horrible dish, who decided to file a lawsuit, claiming that watching the contestants eat the rat triggered intense revulsion.

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